That Seashell
by Fazer
Summary: We still don't know the name of the seashell we saw that day. Five years after the island, a lost friend returns and the events that follow.


Author's Note: This is my first time attempting a 'proper' fanfic, and a multi-chapter one at that, but for once in my life I've come up with a plot! Albeit inspired by the anime AnoHana, but only the basic premise of it. I apologise in advance for any cheesiness- but enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters, they belong rightfully to William Golding.

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><p><em><strong>We still don't know the name of the seashell we saw that day.<strong>_

There was no way he could miss it- the last bus home. Ralph knew it was a terrible idea to have remained in school for those extra hours to help set up the annual school fair, but he was on the organising committee and it was his responsibility. It was not anywhere near productive either; he spent most of his time meandering around school inspecting the sloppy paint jobs of the stalls by underclassmen who could not even grip a brush correctly. As if this was not enough to get on his nerves, the rest of the organising committee decided that the theme for the fair was 'tropical paradise', and he knew that there was absolutely nothing paradisiacal about tropical islands. He didn't dare oppose as his subconscious restrained him, in fear of the foreseeable repercussions. Or maybe he was just thinking too much as of late.

Ralph picked up pace as he reached the main town road, as the bus stop was just half a mile up the road. No uphill route will pose as an obstacle to him and his athleticism- he was not team captain of four different sports teams for nothing. He could run back home, but even the thought of facing tenebrous nightfall all alone would reduce him into a shivering wreck. He had better hurry. The rhythmic thuds of his feet as he ran were echoed by the rustling of fallen leaves and strident crashes of waves lashing on the rocks. The sea was obscured by the row of shops, but the briny scent still saturated the evening air.

As Ralph drew closer to the bus stop, approaching his salvation- his ears prickled at an anomaly in the echoes of his footsteps. It was not just the leaves and waves any longer. It was a sound so foreign yet familiar- a sound frequently associated with the boys that never make the team at tryouts- a large gasp for air. Distracted by the sound, he ceased running and looked behind him only to find a faint figure struggling uphill. The wind was reduced to a light breeze, and the pants and gasps he heard were slowly forming comprehensible words.

"Wait a minute!"

Ralph squinted and sighed at the grossly overweight boy, and assumed the most aloof demeanour he could manage.

"You know my auntie told me not to run," the boy groaned, followed by another cough, "on account of my asthma."

"Sucks to your ass-mar!"

Ralph froze as the words rolled off his tongue. It felt like an eternity since he last retorted with those exact words. However what terrified him the most was that his eyes were meeting with the beady eyes behind coke-bottle glasses- of which one lens had been broken. There they were reunited, five years after their lamentable meeting and separation. Ralph gasped and stared, stared at the plump wheezing pig- no, boy. Ralph shook his head and shut his eyelids in disbelief.

"There is no Piggy," Ralph muttered solemnly to himself, "there is no ass-mar. There is no Piggy."

Ralph was freed from his paralysis and hallucination by the roar of the bus and he hopped on, feigning listlessness and oblivion to the unexplainable encounter. He only hoped that the embrace of sleep could allow him to cease seeing _dead people_. The very thought perturbed him and made him shiver. He buried his face in his satchel and sighed. He could not wait to curl up in his bed and sleep- only after he's finished his homework, of course.

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><p>"Ralph! Wake up!"<p>

Ralph groaned and wrapped himself in his blankets, covering his ears with his pillow. It seemed as though with every day he grew older, he grew more tired as well. He mumbled, requesting for 'five more minutes' or whether he could miss first period entirely, but the latter was never permitted by his mother. He was an above-average student in sixth form, outstanding athlete and a respectable leader at school, so therefore he had to keep his standards up. He drifted off to sleep again until he felt a large weight exerting pressure on his stomach, causing him to jolt up abruptly and choke on his saliva.

"Ralph! You have school today! Can I come too?"

Ralph scrunched up his eyebrows. The voice was clearly not his mother's. It was shrill and frivolous, with a coarse accent rarely heard in the area. His mother would never decide to sit on him to wake him up- she was a thin woman who would probably break under one strike of Jack's spear-the unpleasant thoughts were starting to return to make him miserable. Frightened by the foreign voice and weight, Ralph forcefully kicked his blankets off and the intruder and armed himself with his pillow. He raised the pillow high above his head, ready to deliver a monstrous blow to the twitching body sprawled on his floor, only to be stopped by the forlorn sobs.

"Ow- I was just trying to help, you know."

Upon closer inspection, the intruder was just the fat boy that resembled Piggy that he saw last evening. _Hallucinations in the morning?_ There was something frightfully wrong with Ralph, but he swore he never would return to the psychiatrist ever again. Ralph shot an unsympathetic glance at the boy and proceeded to convince himself that Piggy was dead and there was no logical explanation or scientific evidence for human beings ever to resurrect, so it was just a figment of his imagination.

Ralph reached into his closet and drew out his school uniform- white shirt, red tie, maroon blazer, grey trousers, and short white socks. He had to admit he missed the days of wearing short trousers and having to consciously pull his knee socks up. The burdens and fears of being an adult pained him ever since _then_, but he tried to erase that summer from his memory- which worked fairly positively- until of course _Piggy_ decided to return. He shook his head and told himself Piggy was dead.

"I'd better head to school first, then."

Piggy waved at Ralph and turned the doorknob of Ralph's room door. Ralph dropped his blazer as he heard the door open, and the loose floorboards outside his room squeak acutely as Piggy crept out. Ralph was yet again fixed to the spot, stunned by how real the hallucination was. Ralph started to believe that maybe this Piggy wasn't just his imagination after all. Ralph was clearly going mad.

Ralph fixed his tie and brushed his fringe to the side so his vision would not be obstructed. He'd better get a haircut soon. The future was bright and nothing could get in the way of his awaited successes- except maybe Piggy now. He had to learn to let go of the past- even if Piggy was real, he had to stop associating him with the incidents that happened back then. He grabbed his satchel and made his way downstairs to the kitchen to get breakfast.

"You look rather tired, Ralph. Are you sure you've been getting enough rest?"

"Yes, I have."

Ralph drearily fed himself cold cereal and milk- his mother's excuse was that his father had to go to a very important Navy ceremony early in the morning so she had run out of flour to bake pancakes, or even eggs for that matter. Strangely enough most the biscuits and sweets in the pantry seemed to have disappeared overnight, which Ralph whole heartedly denied doing. His mother unwillingly blamed it on the rats and Ralph suggested calling the pest exterminators, and they laughed. The pest exterminators from the next town over were horrendously inexperienced, and have nothing but bad reputation. Rumours say that last week they accidentally set half a house on fire trying to exterminate cockroaches, and the week before it was flooding a local kindergarten by total accident. Ralph wondered why they weren't arrested already.

"Say, mum, have you seen a fat boy in the house?"

Ralph's question was sudden, but his mother knew not to be surprised. He had not been all that normal since the island, his thoughts disjointed and sporadic. His mother understood this, and all his grievances associated with those days.

"No, I haven't. Come on, you'll be late for school Ralph."

Ralph bid his mother farewell and left for school. Ralph ran two streets down to fetch Percival from his house, so he could accompany him on the way to school. The only tie to the island that he hadn't severed was Percival- he went to the same school as Ralph did, and Percival's parents were extremely protective- they never trusted their son with anyone other than Ralph. Neither of them ever mentioned the island, so Ralph never felt uncomfortable around him. In fact, the little one was one of Ralph's greatest joys. He was living proof that savagery could be overcome, and Ralph believed strongly in this thanks to Percival. Ralph never wanted this view to be tainted, as Percival would always be a non-savage boy in his heart. Ah, the joys of being an English schoolboy.

They had their usual morning routine of reporting any news that happened in their town, but Ralph decided to keep 'Piggy' a secret. He didn't want Percival to be reminded of the island, or to think that he was going batty. He convinced himself not to believe Piggy had returned from the dead, at least for the rest of the day, because it was downright ridiculous. It was the usual talk about the usual failure of the public school's cricket team and the school fair, but the atmosphere of their conversation unexpectedly took on a more serious tone as Percival stammered about the infestation of rats. Reports have been heard of abnormally large and fast rats, causing the sudden disappearance of food from pantries. Ralph knew straight away it was not the malfeasance of rats or pests, but of a certain dead boy.

Ralph began to fear, not for Piggy, but most importantly what chaos the pest exterminators will wreck in their town. He did not want to have his house set on fire after all.


End file.
